Google Maps on Airplane question

[syvmn]

I'm flying from Minnesota to Kauai, Hi in the next few days and I would LOVE to be able to track my progress via google maps and GPS.

I used google maps' new feature to be able to save the entire island of Kauai on the phone for use when I dont have internet (on the plane) but I was wondering if I will be able to track the rest of my flight.

When I put my phone into "Airplane" mode and open up google maps, it shows my location via the GPS in Minnesota and there seems to be a low-resolution map of the entire world saved into the computer. If I try to zoom in on California it doesn't update. However if I zoom up on Kauai it does update because I have saved that portion of the map into the phones memory.

Is this how google maps works offline? It has a low resolution of the world saved to memory, and then I can download specific areas of the map I also want saved to memory?

 

[fightingirish]

I haven't figured out the save maps feature yet, but does the flight have Wi-Fi? Stupid question, but worth asking.

 

[deltaforce]

Who says A-GPS needs wi-fi? As far as I could use it, I could use Google maps for driving instructions offline i.e. I do not have a data plan and I was not connected to any wi-fi on the road.

What I am not too sure is, if the phone is able to connect to GPS satellites from the airplane. That could be reason of low resolution.

 

[jova33]

If you go into labs, under map settings, you can save locations to your device by long pressing. I haven't tried it, but the option is there.
Edit never mind. It's no longer under labs, it's right there when you press menu.